1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of systems and methods for reducing data throughput over wireless data links. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention reduce data throughput over wireless data links by distinguishing signal data from non-signal data and communicating only the signal data over a wireless data link while preserving signal timing information.
2. Description of Prior Art
Geolocation systems commonly include a plurality of data collection nodes that receive a wireless signal from an emitter and use differences in the signal received at each node, such as differences in a time of arrival or a frequency, to determine a location of the emitter. In order to use the signals received at each node to determine the location of the emitter, however, the signals need to be compared and, thus, communicated to a central location for analysis.
Communicating the collected signals to a central location adds a substantial amount of time to the geolocation process because each of the multiple collection nodes must communicate signal collection data to the central location via a data link with limited bandwidth. If a collection period is one minute, for example, it may take one minute or more for each node to communicate the collected signals to the central location for processing. Thus, signal analysis and determination of the emitter location are substantially delayed.
One method of reducing the time required to communicate signal collection data from each node to the central location involves compressing the signal collection data before transmission, thus reducing the total amount of data communicated via the data link. Unfortunately, data compression is only marginally effective in solving the problem. While data compression reduces the amount of data communicated via the data link, even the reduced amount of data requires a significant amount of time to transfer. Furthermore, increased data compression typically results in greater loss of the compressed data, possibly compromising the accuracy of the geolocation system.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved geolocation system that does not suffer from the problems and limitations of the prior art.